Whirling toy



July 31, 1962 A. M. STEINER WHIRLING TOY Filed June 2, 1961 IN VEN TOR.

BY M/VM AW /ma.

Afro/9M9):

United States Patent P 3,046,692 WHIRLING TOY Albert M. Steiner,Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor to Ilromo Mint Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, acorporat on of elaware I p D Filed June 2, 1961, Ser. No. 114,349

4 Claims. (Cl. 46-52) This invention relates to a whirling toy havingboth visual and variable sound efiects.

An object of this invention is to provide a toy which will be a sourceof amusement to children. A visual efiect is provided by the selectiveattachment :of elongated, light-weight streamers to a weighted cordwhich is whirled about in desired patterns by means of a baton, so as tocause the attached streamer to follow a path described by the end of theweighted cord.

Sound is produced by means of attaching the cord to the wall of ahollow, tubular baton so that during use of the toy, the cord will bechafed against an edge of the baton so as to produce a vibratory soundin the baton. The pitch of the sound may be varied by manipulauon of thefingers to selectively open and close apertures provided in the wall ofthe sounding portion of the baton.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an action toy whichis completely safe for childrens use and which combines a means ofdeveloping certain simple feats of co-ordination skills so as to provideamusement for children. 1

To the foregoing objects, and others, which hereinafter more fullyappear, the invention consists of the novel construction, combinationand arrangement of parts, as will be more specifically referred to andillustrated in the accompanying drawing.

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the toy in use.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged top plan, partially broken away View of thebaton member of the toy.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing the attachment ofthe Weight member to the cord.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged plan view of an alternate form of streamer foruse with the toy. 7

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along lines 55 ofFIGURE 4 showing the tow clamp attached to the front portion of thestreamer.

As can be seen in FIGURE 1, the device comprises a baton member 1, acord or tension member 10, a weight member 2%) and an elongated flexiblestreamer 30. The toy is operated by grasping the baton in the hand andby swinging the baton in a desired pattern, such as the figure 8illustrated in FIGURE 1, so that the weight member 26 will pursue thesame general pattern and cause the lightweight, flexible streamer 39 tofollow, in much the same path. 7

With reference to FIGURE 2, it may be seen that while the hollow batonmember 1 is of substantially cylindrical or tubular configuration, thetube is tapered inwardly at its opposite open ends 5 and 6. These tapersprovide an enlarged waist portion 7 intermediate the ends of the tube inwhich is mounted a membrane 2. The membrane 2 is positioned in a planecoincident with an interior diameter of the baton to divide the batoninto a sounding chamber 3 and a chafing chamber Si). Sounding chamber 3is provided with a plurality of openings 4 which can be opened andclosed by the fingers while the device is in use so as to vary the pitchof the sound emanating from the open end 5 of'sound chamber 3.

With regard to the broken away portion of FIGURE 2, it will be notedthat the tension or cord member is secured to the central portion ofmembrane 2 by passing the end of the cord 10 through a small aperture 8in the membrane 2 by such means as .a knot and plug arrangement such asis shown at 9.

As shown particularly in FIGURE 3, the extended end of cord member 10 isreceived in a bore 21 in weight member 20 and made fast to a doubleendedhook 22 as shown at knot 25. The double ended hook 22 terminates in alarge streamer hook 23 at one end and a smaller cord engaging hook 24 atthe other. The double ended hook is provided with a centrally located,axially disposed shield member 26 which snugly engages the outercircumference of weight member 20 in an area immediately adjacent thebore 21 when the small cord hook 24 is sunk into weight member 20, tokeep hook 23 from engaging the surface of weight 20.

With reference to FIGURE 5, it may be seen that the streamer used withthe device, while extremely light in Weight and flexible, is providedwith a stiifening tow rod 31 around which the end of the streamer 30 islooped and which is then press-fit into longitudinal tow yoke 34 intowing clamp 32. As shown in FIGURE 4, the lead portion of the tow clamp32 is provided with an aperture 33 which can be engaged upon streamerhook 23 to removably attach the streamer to the toy.

When the device is whirled as is shown in FIGURE 1, the cord member 10is chafed against the periphery of the open end 6 of the baton 1 toproduce a vibration which, in turn, creates a sound in the soundingchamber 3. The faster the Weight is whirled, the louder the sound. Atthe same time, the weight is being whirled, the child operating thebaton can manipulate his fingers to open and close the apertures 4 so asto vary the pitch of the sound and add interest to the use of the toy.

The device lends itself to the use of different types and colors ofstreamers which can be made to produce novel visual results inconjunction with the sound means previously described. The streamersshould be of sufiicient length so that it is possible for a child tocreate large patterns in which the weight member 20 of the device almost catches the tail 39 of the streamer so as to give the illusion of acomplete pattern or design. While the use of polyethylene sheeting ispreferred in the construction of the streamers, it is, of course,possible to use any material which is extremely light in weight andextremely flexible so that it will follow the path of the weight member20 and create a design described by the weight member 20 as the weightis whirled by the baton 1.

In the preferred embodiment as disclosed in FIGURE 1, it can be seenthat the streamer 30 is composed of three separate streamers 36, 37, and38 which are colored blue, yellow and red respectively. When the weightmember 20 is whirled, the three separate streamers follow closely behindand create a rainbow illusion as the colors blend together when thestreamers entwine.

FIGURE 4 discloses an alternate streamer for use with the toy in whichthe streamer 30 is composed of a solid sheet of light weight, flexible,filmy material which is imprinted with a design having two basic colorsas indicated at 41 and 42. When this streamer is whirled, an illusion isproduced in which the two colors 41 and 42 appear to be blended into anintermediate color. In the preferred embodiment, the weight member 20 iscomposed of a rubber ball which has enough weight to operate the devicesuccessfully and is soft enough not to damage any article into which itmight be hurled. The baton member 1 is preferably composed of anon-breakallale plastic which is light in weight and easy to manipu ate.

If preferred, the streamers may be made of sufliciently heavy materialso as not to require the use of weight 20.

Although the invention has been described in its preferred form, with acertain degree of particularity, it is understood that the presentdisclosure of the preferred Patented July 31, 1962 7 formhas been madeonly by way of example and that numerous changes in the details ofconstruction and the combination and arrangements 'of'par'ts may beresorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of theinvention as hereinafter claimed.

I claim: V 1. A toy for producing visual and sound 'efiect's comprisinga hollow, tubular baton member, a diaphragm mounted in said baton memberinteriorly thereof, a cord secured to the diaphragm and extendingoutwardly therefrom and streamers secured to the extended end of thecord whereby swinging of the baton extends the streamers and thesimultaneous chafing of the cord against the baton edge produces a soundeffect.

2. In a whirling toy for producing visual and sound eifects comprisingan extended cord length having streamers secured to an end thereof; theimprovement to whirl said cord, means dividing said baton into a soundchamber and a cord chafing chamber, the unweighted end of said cordbeing fastened at a point within said chafing chamber, said cordextending through said chafing chamber to chafe against the rim of theopen end of said chamber to produce a sound in said sound chamber uponthe manipulation of said baton to whirl said streamer rapidly about;

4. A whirling toy comprising a cord length having a streamer removablyattached adjacent one end thereof, a tubular baton to whirl said cord,means dividing said baton into a sound chamber and a cord chafingchamber, the other end of said cord being fastened at a point withinsaid chafing chamber, said cord extending through said chafing chamberto 'chafe against the rim of the open end of said chamber to produce asound in said sound chamber upon the manipulation of said baton tocomprising a tubular baton member for swinging said 4 cord length, saidbaton member comprising a hollow tube and a diaphragm mounted in saidtube intermediate the ends thereof, and having the cord length securedthereto, whereby swinging of the baton causes the cord Whirl thestreamer rapidly about, the walls of said sound chamber having aplurality of apertures defined therein to vary the pitch of said soundupon the selective opening and closing of said apertures.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,966,895 Kuhns July 17, 1934 FOREIGN PATENTS 429,361 Germany May 29,1926

